Ecodesign Regulation and Digital Product Passport

With the entry into force of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) on July 18, 2024, the European Union (EU) is setting another milestone as part of the European Green Deal, which aims to transform Europe into the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

The Ecodesign Directive is intended to create a legal framework for defining ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and thus promote implementing the climate-neutral and resource-efficient circular economy envisaged by the EU Green Deal.

This regulation also introduces a Digital Product Passport (DPP), which, according to the European Commission, will be part of many other EU initiatives that provide digital product information. Current examples of this include the "Regulation on Batteries and Waste Batteries" (Batteries Regulation), the "Regulation on the safety of toys" (Toy Safety Regulation) or the "Regulation on Detergents" (Detergents Regulation).

The Ecodesign Regulation concerns "all physical goods placed on the market or put into service, including components and intermediate products [...]" except food, feed, medicinal products, veterinary medicinal products, living plants, animals and micro-organisms, products of human origin, products of plants and animals directly related to their future reproduction and vehicles (Ecodesign Regulation for Sustainable Products, REGULATION (EU) 2024/1781, Art. 1, page 26/89).

According to the Commission's definition, the ecodesign requirements aim to "make a product, including the processes that take place along the entire value chain of the product, more environmentally sustainable" (Art. 2, p. 27/89). They are defined for specific product groups and specified by the Commission in so-called delegated acts, which supplement the Ecodesign Regulation (Art. 4, p. 31/89).

In terms of content, the Commission distinguishes between performance and information requirements. The performance requirements relate to the product itself and specify performance levels for product parameters that can improve their environmental sustainability (Art. 6, p. 35f./89). The information requirements, on the other hand, oblige manufacturers to provide specified relevant product information (Art. 7, 36f./89). To be able to fulfill the information requirements for a product, manufacturers must at least guarantee the criteria regarding the digital product passport and thus provide a digital product passport for their products. The performance and the information requirements are intended to improve product aspects defined by the EU, such as the functional durability, reusability, reparability, or energy consumption of the respective products (Art. 5, p. 33/89).

With the introduction of the digital product passport, products, components, and materials will be given a digital identity and, thus, a digital ID card in which relevant information is stored and made available to various parties along the entire value chain via a data carrier. Depending on the requirements, this data carrier can be attached to the product itself, its packaging, or the accompanying documents. The digital product passport thus enables traceability over the entire life cycle of a product and paves the way for more informed decisions when handling products. To enable the search and comparison of data in different digital product passports, the Commission is planning a publicly accessible web portal (Art. 14, p. 43/89).

How exactly the digital product passport will look in practice is still uncertain. This is because the Ecodesign Regulation only includes information on the design framework and the building blocks of the digital product passport, but not the exact content specifications that are crucial for implementation to the relevant product groups. The delegated acts to be adopted will define this information over time. According to the Commission, the first delegated act will not enter into force before 19.07.2025 (Art. 4, p. 31f./89).

With regard to the requirements for the digital product passport, the delegated acts must, for example, cover the following aspects: The data to be included in the Digital Product Passport, the data carriers to be used, the layout, the level of creation of the DPP e.g., at model, batch or item level, the method of provision to the customer, the contributors with a DPP creation obligation as well as the contributors with access authorization and their scope of access, the details for entering or updating the data in the Digital Product Passport and the availability period (Art. 9, p. 39/89).

In addition to the design aspects, the regulation also contains extensive obligations for manufacturers and other economic operators regarding handling the digital product passport. These include, for example, the norms and standards to be used, the exchange of data with the competent authorities via the digital register, requirements for storing and saving the digital product passport, and the obligation to back up copies with independent third-party DPP service providers.

The commission will draw up a work plan to implement the plan, which will be publicly accessible. This will include information on the prioritization of product groups for which ecodesign requirements will be set and the expected timetables for setting them. The adoption of the first working plan is dated 19.04.2025 with priority for the product groups iron and steel, aluminum, textiles in particular clothing and footwear, furniture including mattresses, tires, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals as well as energy-related products and products of information and communication technology and other electronic equipment (Art.18, p. 46/89).

The Ecodesign Regulation creates a comprehensive framework for defining requirements that promote product sustainability and increase product and process transparency for stakeholders along the entire value chain. It introduces a digital product passport, which will also form the basis for further EU regulations in the future. Looking to the future, economic operators can currently only wait for the first delegated acts to be adopted to be able to view detailed information on the specific content and technical requirements.

Nevertheless, manufacturing companies can also provide digital product information in preparation for or independently of legal regulations, as more consumers are deciding to consume more consciously and sustainably, for example, in the food sector. Increased product and process transparency through the provision of digital product information can strengthen trust in a company's brand and increase customer satisfaction at the same time.

Whether motivated by regulatory obligations or changing customer needs, we provide you with IT support to provide digital product information in the technical formats you require or those required by law. Thanks to our broad solution landscape and many years of experience, we offer you the security of acting and reacting flexibly at all times in dynamic environments. Feel free to contact us!